pc building newb

Nertballs

hey there!

the title says im a newb, but i know how to do the actual build and install etc.

i just want help on parts, how does this sound to a mid-high spec gaming system:

AMD Phenom II X4 960T (i know there's bulldozers but they're crap!)

nVidia Gtx 560 Ti (final model undecided)

Asus M5A97 Pro MoBo

OCZ 600w PSU

Cooler Master case

8gb vengeance ram

1TB hdd

I can build this system bare for ~600..



Sound good? any thoughts/tips/adjustments appreciated!!

deconduo

You'd be better of with an i3-2120 + ASRock H61M motherboard if its for gaming.

Nertballs

deconduo wrote: »

You'd be better of with an i3-2120 + ASRock H61M motherboard if its for gaming.

You think?? Id prefer to stick with and though as that procesor ocs quite well and would i be right in saying youre getting a better chipset with that asus??

Monotype

The 960T is certainly a good CPU - you get to overclock and there's the possibility that it can unlock to an X6.

However, on average, when overclocked, it is about equivalent to the i3 (the 2120 is +0.2GHz but you can probably squeeze an extra bit out of the 960T and Thuban is slightly better).
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=289

The i3's hyperthreading helps it quite a bit and although it loses out in the heavily threaded situations, it does win in power consumption and where the extra cores aren't needed. If it did unlock to an X6, it's good value for money if you use the extra cores (although not as efficient with power as the likes of a 2500K). For a lot of situations - i.e., games - you won't see much gain with additional cores and the i3 easily manages to keep up although graphics card will play a bigger part.

The main thing that the Intel system has got going for it is the fact that you have upgrades available right now. Bulldozer wasn't much of an upgrade so the future is more uncertain. At least the AMD boards are good at providing 6Gbps ports (much better than Intel, in fact) which is handy for SSDs, so if you are to go with Intel, check that you have this.

Which OCZ PSU were you looking at? Their ZS and ZX series are good but I wouldn't bother with the rest.

Also, is that the RAM with the massive heatsinks? Try to get something else in case you want to install a big heatsink later on.

Nertballs

this one here: http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/1911152/art/ocz/modxstream-pro-600w-pc-po.html

was i better with a more established psu like this?: http://www.dabs.ie/products/corsair-memory-tx650-v2-650w-atx-enthusiast-series-7CHB.html ?

yeah i might change that ram i think?

i don't know, i like the 4 real cores of the amd more than the 2+2 from intel, i already have an i3 machine and it's so-so in games!!

Monotype

If you do go with a 560ti, 550W would be enough as well as room for upgrades. That particular OCZ isn't bad but you'd be as well off going for a newer PSU. The Corsair is pretty good, an alternative is the XFX 650W Core Edition which is near identical, but you're not saving much. An alternative is the modular XFX 650W for a few euro more.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-650w-xxx-edition-single-rail-semi-modular-psu-7TCZ.html
The OCZ ZS is a bit cheaper.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-zs-series-650w-80--bronze-power-supply-7H4C.html
- but the 550W version is €10 cheaper again.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-zs-series-550w-80--bronze-power-supply-7H49.html

If you were upgrading an AMD system, there'd be no doubt that the 960T is a great buy and there are well threaded games that will make good use of the 4 cores. To be honest, with the possibility of getting another 2 cores it would get you a better system now. But with regard to the long term, taking into consideration power savings and CPU upgrades, the Intel has more options. It depends on your needs. If you like AMD better and just want to give the a go, by all means go with them. If you wanted to really maximise your options, you could stretch for a Z68 motherboard and get a cheaper Intel CPU - you could buy an unlocked CPU in the future.

Nertballs

@MonoType
yeah i think i'll stick with amd so, because as much as i'd like to build an upgradeable pc, it's not too important to me, and this would be good for a while yet anyway!!

yeah i'd like a modular one just to keep things tidy too, might stick with the OCZ. Have you had experience with the 560 ti? if so which vendor? what did you think?

Monotype

The 650W XFX modular one is one of the better value ones around. Are you buying from dabs or pixmania or both?

The 560ti is a good card, but looking at the prices now, it's been going up and I'm not sure it would be worth it with the just released 7850 (but not widely available yet) only a tiny bit higher in price. Production of them might be stopped as apparently, nVidia should have new cards next month.